Method for soaping cloth.



A. BUTTERWORTH METHOD FOR SOAPING CLOTH.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-I8. I916r Patented July 31, 1917 msmss.

ARTHUR BUTTERWORTH, 0F WILTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

METHOD FOR SOAPING CLOTH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

Application filed August 18, 1916. Serial No. 115,684.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR BUTTER- v WORTH, a subject of the King of England,

and a resident of the town of Wilton, in the county of Hillsborough, State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods for Soap ing Cloth, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates broadly to textiles, and more particularly in applying to woolen cloth soap necessary for the fulling operation.

The principal object of the present invention resides in the method of preparing, transporting, and applying liquid soap necessary to the fulling process of woolen cloth.

Another and a primary object of the present invention is the production of a machine for carrying out the method previously specified.

A more specific object of the present invention comprises thelmethod of breaking up and aerating liquid soap 5- then transporting the liquid mass to-the place of use; then spreading the liquid evenly over the cloth to be soaped.

A still further and more specific object of the present invention comprises the production of a machine including a supply reservoir for liquid soap, an agitator and conveyer for removing the soap from the supply hopper, a suitable pump for providing pressure to drive the liquid soap through suitable conduits, and a suitable nozzle for spreading the soap over the cloth to be soaped.

Other and further objects of the present invention will in part be obvious and will in part be pointed out hereinafter by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, and wherein like characters are used to represent like parts throughout the several views thereof. Figure 1 is a view illustrating one form of apparatus for carrying o it my invention. Fig. 2 is a more or less diagrammatical view illustrating one manner of carrying out my invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic View showing one manner of arranging the apparatus.

After woolen cloth is woven one of the finishing processes includes fulling. To carry out the falling process successfully pressure, heat, and moisture ,are elements to be considered. The moisture is usually provided in the form of liquid soap, which in most cases comprises a stifi' jelly-like substance that is chopped into masses with an ordinary garden hoe and then carried in pails to the fulling machine where it is poured on the cloth and spread out thereon.

Usually the iulling machines are some distance from the place where the liquid soap is made so' that considerable labor is required to transport the soap. Furthermore, by this old way of applying the soap it is substantially impossible to spread the soap evenly over the cloth.

The present invention may be embodied in a machine including an agitator and a pump together with suitable conduits leading to the fulling machines and provided with a spreading nozzle of any desired character.

For convenience, the agitator and the pump may be located adjacent the soap tank, thereby avoiding the necessity of trans porting the soap for anyconsiderable distance. The liquid soap reservoir connected to the pump preferably comprises a hopper which terminates at the bottom of a vertical tube that leads to a suitable pump mechanism. An agitator, preferably in the form of a screw conveyor, is provided in this vertical pipe and by means of this screw conveyor the liquid soap is broken up, made more fluid, and at the same time is carried forward to the pump. The rapid revolution of the pump still further breaks up the liquid soap and by the time the soap leaves the pump it is in the form of a thick lather. This thick lather may be conveyed through the conduits as specified and the lather is applied to the cloth in the falling.- machine. It may be convenient to utilize a spreading nozzle for this purpose and a suitable form of such nozzle may be provided by a perfo rated pipe connected to the end of the conduit.

Referring now to the drawings, and-more 5 in which is provided a screw conveyor or agitator 6 that is mounted upon a shaft 7 journaled in a bracket 8 carried upon the upper part of the hopper his vertica 4 l- .4. shaft 7 carries at its upper and miter gear 9 which engages agear 10 that is carried by th 11 which is journaled in the bracket 12,

The cylindrical conduit 5 is connects suitable piping 14 to the inlet pump 15. I have illustrated a rotary force pump as the preferred form, but desire it to be understood that any preferably rotary pump, may he so the purpose of carrying out my invention,

The outlet side of this pump 15 is connected by suitable conduits 16 with nozzles 17 located over the path of the cloth in'the failing machines. In order to suitably regulate the spreading of the aerated or liquid soap valves 18 are provided adjacent each of the spreading nozzles 17. These valves may be of any convenient type which allows a full flow of the soap to the spreading nozzles. In order to prevent excessive and dangerous back pressure in the pump,should all of the valves 18 connected with the main line 16 be simultaneously closed, a relief valve 19 is provided in the conduit 20 which leads from one side of the outlet of the pump to the reservoir hopper i. The relief valve 19 is spring controlled and is adjust able in order to maintain suliicient pressure in the main line 16 to insure delivery of the soap to the most distant point of ap plication.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings is diagrammatically illustrated the apparatus including the distributing; andaerating mechanistic indicated as A, and the operative portions of the fulling machine as indicated at in this diagrammatic illustration the fallingmachine is disclosed as including pressure rollers 21 and 22 together Nib-l1 a guide 2% in front of the pressure rollers and a trap or crimping box 25 in the rear thereof. The cloth 26 is illustrated as passing through the guide 2%, the pressure rollers 21 and 22, and the crimping box 25. lhe spreading nozzle 17, it Will be noted, is arranged over the cloth on the intake side of the press rollers so that liquid soap is evenly deposit-ed as at 27 on the cloth prior to its passage through the said pressure rollers. The fulling machine parts previously specified are all old in the art and the present invention does not contemplate a reorganization of falling machine other than providing the suitable pipes and nozzles necessary to conc drive shaft duct and distribute ahove specified.

The action oi" the rotary pump hrealrs the soap intoia thick creamy substance or lather, as has been previously explained, and this substance or lather is maintained u 1 pressure due to the resistance flow in .415 distributing hose and also resistance 7 caused. by the restriction to. nozzle of 655 the hose, and this resistance 3 air, in the lather or soap, tra lather is emitted from the star This has the e'ftect of causi': spread and expand more ev cloth Where it is being applied,

Realizing that itis possible to vary the physical embodiments of the apparatus included'in my invention Without departing from the scope of the invention, I desire it to he understood that the specific mechanism herein shown shall be unders' icd illustrative and not in the liniitingsense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. The method of applying fluid soap to cloth and the like, which method comprises agitating the soap to' he applied to produce a hi k, creamy lathei; maintaining "11G tated soap in la thcr form under p: are and be out of contact with the atmosphere; conducting; the lather so maintained to the place of application; and then relieving-5 the pressure and spreading the soap over the cloth.

The method of applyingliquid soai $90 for toiling cloth, which method comprises agitating the soap sufficiently to produce a. thick cream-y lather; then con-aucting the lather under pressure to the place of application; then releasing the pressure and V ling the lather over the cloth.

3. The method of applying iluid for falling cloth, which method comprises i the liquid soap is sists in supplying liquid soap ,ll'l lather form thereto under pressure, releasing; the pres sure and. evenly distributing lather over the cloth, and then subjecting; the to pressure, substantially as dcscn ARTHUR BUTTERl/VCRT"? 

